Long Time Gone

SOLD

I've really missed my blogging friends!  I've cleared out a lot in my house, and now am in the Limbo that is unique to a House For Sale.  I've struggled with all the different hats I've had to wear prepping everything, and I'm still not done, but well on my way - one more yard sale and one more POP UP sale (keep your eyes peeled and check the blog posts, because I will be taking sales via text message as well as in person!) to go.

It had been so long since I've done a Daily Painting... there was this fear... could I still paint?  I thought I'd forgotten HOW.  And what?  What subject?  I returned to my comfort zone.  Hadn't done a coffee or tea break in a long long time.  I love painting different textures, and here the graham crackers contrasted with the smooth liquid and the hard porcelain... and I had a BLAST doing it.  And whites are always so interesting.  So join me in 'Tak(ing) A Break", relax and enjoy.  And thanks for being there.

Countryware Teacup, 6x6 Oil

$100 plus $10 shipping and handling via PayPal 

In my former life I did things like collect teacups from china patterns that I liked.  This one was a Wedgewood pattern named 'Countryware' with leaf-like embossed forms.  

ALSO I got not one, not two, but THREE Sunshine Awards!!!!  I will post the award tomorrow with the folks that I'm giving this lovely award to - how COOL is that?

Also, my new subscription box (top left on the blog) actually works.  You can put your email address in and get my posts in your inbox.  I'm trying to enter all the people who WERE on my other carrier, so if it turns out you get two... apologies in advance, and feel free to unsubscribe.  But thank you so much for your patience!!

Fiesta Tea, 6x8 Oil

My mind's on other things today, and I only managed (barely) to get a Daily Painting done, and get to the gym. Other than that.... nada... And now that I SEE this posted I can see things that are 'off' and I wish I could fix, but I'm home from the studio so it'll have to wait. AND I added a better image to yesterday's post, so if you go to my blog you can see the better color on the newer glass of tea. Back to this one - I love mixing up Fiesta Ware, and for some reason this orange and seafoam mixture is appealing to me. I hate doing the elipses, but I make myself because it's good 'art exercise'. Anyway this missed the Tea Show, because the drop off was today (surprise! Maybe I should check my calendar more regularly!), and even yesterday's Daily Painting was too wet to put in :(

Brown Betty Teapot, 10x10 Acrylic

There's a show coming up with a 'tea' theme, and since I love tea I've been dying to start painting for it. Yesterday I didn't get a Daily Painting in, but I did a semi-abstract about the fogbound river, and put it in my Studio Blog. This teapot is one I 'inherited' from my Dad. I actually bought it for him, thinking he'd like the deep brown color. I, on the other hand, haven't bought anything brown in decades. So I hesitated to paint this boring brown teapot, but as I painted it I saw that it acted like a mini mirror, and the 'brown-ness' just supported all the other things (cloth, windows, etc) in the room. Every time I make tea in this I think of my dad, how I miss him, and *chuckle* how he never, ever made his daily tea in this pot! The gift seemed like a good idea at the time:)

Tea Break's Over, 6x8 Oil

I just loved the colors on this Fiesta Ware.  I got the cup & saucer at Mindy & Clyde's Cupboard Company in Santa Fe.  Check it out if you ever get there.  Mindy & Clyde are two Jack Russell Terriers owned by the owner, a wonderful  woman named Eiko.  I could have loaded up a truck in this place.  Later I'll do another cup I bought there, a gorgeous green Harlequin cup.  I mentioned to someone that in these paintings (as of the last post) I'm struggling with extremely thick white - which is resisting my efforts to thin it down with Gamsol.  It's an old tube of paint, Permalba, which I used to love because of it's buttery, creamy consistancy.  Lately (my last 3 tubes) the paint's been thicker, and the reps at Jerry's Artarama where I got it say I'm the only one to notice.  I figure one, maybe two tubes, and it could be the batch.  Three tubes, and  - 'Bye-bye'.  I'm back to Utrecht, except when I travel, when I like Galkyd White because it helps everything dry faster.  

Hopefully the brushwork on this is more 'confident', though.  On the next post, which I may not even put up, I almost tossed the panel away because the white paint was so hard to work with.  You'll see.